KINGS NOTEBOOK: KINGS CLOSE TO CLINCHING.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

The two points Vancouver earned from its 2-1 victory over Colorado prevented the Kings from submitting their RSVP to the NHL playoffs on Tuesday night, but it seems only a matter of time.

The Kings have a chance to clinch a spot again tonight if Edmonton ties or loses to visiting Phoenix. The Kings play Thursday in Vancouver and, after several months of bouncing up and down the standings, the postseason is starting to look like a reality.

``It would be a very gratifying feeling,'' Murray said. ``I hesitate to talk about it because we're not there yet, but what it would allow us to do is change our focus and set our sights on other things before the end of the regular season.''

Those things would include securing home-ice advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs and possibly overtaking San Jose for the Pacific Division title. The Kings are two points behind the Sharks, and the teams meet Saturday in San Jose.

The Kings remain tied with Chicago for fourth place with 93 points after the Blackhawks lost to Washington on Tuesday. Each team has three games remaining, but the Blackhawks have 40 victories to the Kings' 39, and that is the first tiebreaker.

``We could beat any of our potential first-round playoff opponents, and we could lose to any of them,'' Murray said. ``I'm sure that (first-place) Detroit is looking down and saying, 'We could play St. Louis, we could play Phoenix, we could play Edmonton or the Kings, and none of them look very easy.' ''

--Wearing down? Murray said he is pleased with the physical condition of his team, even though the Kings have been competing with playoff-like intensity since late November because of their poor start to the season.

``I think if we were going to get tired, it would have been in February or late January, and I didn't see that,'' Murray said. ``If you get into the playoffs, you can spend a couple days at a time in a city and focus on putting your best effort into the games.

``The way it is now on the road, we're traveling to a different city almost every day and playing back-to-back games sometimes, and that doesn't happen in the playoffs.''

--Finally over: Bryan Smolinski ended his scoreless streak at 30 games Monday night with an empty-net goal against Dallas in the final minute of the third period.

``I had kind of put (the streak) aside about 10 games ago,'' Smolinski said. ``I realized I have to do a lot of other things on the ice, too, besides scoring.''

Smolinski, who has five points in his past four games, noted that his previous last goal also was an empty-netter, so he hasn't put a puck past a goaltender since Jan. 5.

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